Lenovo readies ThinkPad X220 with Sandy Bridge, IPS panel

Lenovo is preparing to introduce a new ultraportable notebook, the ThinkPad X220. Although a product page isn't up yet, the system's spec sheet has been discovered on Lenovo's site. The 12.5-inch machine will be offered with a slew of high-end features, including an optional 1366x768 IPS display and five full-powered Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3, i5 or i7 processors.

The total package weighs less than three pounds and includes up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 160GB to 320GB of mechanical storage and 4GB to 160GB of flash storage courtesy of Intel's 310 Series. There doesn't appear to be any discrete graphics options so you'll be stuck with Sandy Bridge's on-die chip -- though that's not necessarily a bad thing in the case of Intel's HD 3000.

Connectivity includes DisplayPort and VGA outputs, three USB 2.0 ports (one "Always On") and one optional USB 3.0 port, a 54mm Express Card slot, an SD card reader, and various WLAN/WWAN Intel Centrino wireless adapters. The ThinkPad X220 gets up to 15 hours of runtime with a nine-cell battery and that's boosted to 23 hours with an external battery pack.

Lenovo notes other business-friendly features, such as a quiet keyboard, microphone and speaker mute buttons with LED indicators, a 720p webcam, as well as the ability to adjust the mic's sensitivity for a single person or conference calls. There's also a new buttonless touchpad that we've found pretty finicky, but we'll reserve final judgment for our upcoming review.